The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's vacation home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. Other than the Wolfsschanze ("Wolf's Lair"), his headquarters in East Prussia for the invasion of the Soviet Union, he spent more time here than anywhere else during his time as the Führer of Nazi Germany. It was also one of the most widely known of his headquarters, which were located throughout Europe.
The Berghof was rebuilt and renamed in 1935 and was Hitler's vacation residence for ten years. It was damaged by British bombs in late April 1945, and again in early May by retreating SS troops, and it was looted after Allied troops reached the area. The Bavarian government demolished the burned shell in 1952.
History
The Berghof began as a much smaller chalet called Haus Wachenfeld, a holiday home built in 1916 (or 1917) by Kommerzienrat Otto Winter, a businessman from Buxtehude. It was located near the Platterhof, the former Pension Moritz where Hitler had stayed in 1922–23. By 1926, the family running the pension had left, and Hitler did not like the new owner. He moved first to the Marineheim and then to a hotel in Berchtesgaden, the Deutsches Haus, where he dictated the second volume of Mein Kampf in the summer of 1926. Hitler met his girlfriend at that time, Maria Reiter, who worked in a shop on the ground floor of the hotel, during another visit in autumn 1926. In 1928, Winter's widow rented Haus Wachenfeld to Hitler, and his half-sister Angela came to live there as housekeeper, although she left soon after her daughter Geli's 1931 death in Hitler's Munich apartment.
By 1933, Hitler had purchased Haus Wachenfeld with funds he received from the sale of his political manifesto Mein Kampf. The small chalet-style building was refurbished and much expanded by architect Alois Degano during 1935–36 under the supervision of Martin Bormann, when it was renamed The Berghof (English: "Mountain Court"). The renovated interiors were designed by Gerdy Troost.
A large terrace was built and featured big, colourful, resort-style canvas umbrellas. The entrance hall "was filled with a curious display of cactus plants in majolica pots." A dining room was panelled with very costly cembra pine. Hitler's large study had a telephone switchboard room. The library contained books "on history, painting, architecture and music." A great hall was furnished with expensive Teutonic furniture, a large globe, and an expansive red marble fireplace mantel. Behind one wall was a projection booth for evening screenings of films (often, Hollywood productions, including Mickey Mouse).
A sprawling picture window could be lowered into the wall to give a sweeping, open-air view of the snow-capped mountains in Hitler's native Austria. The house was maintained much like a small resort hotel by several housekeepers, gardeners, cooks, and other domestic workers.
The Berghof became a centerpiece of Nazi propaganda. The Nazi-controlled German press as well as the English-language international press covered Hitler's life at home in a positive light. These stories helped to soften his image by portraying him as a man of culture, dog lover, and good neighbor. Writer William George Fitz-Gerald, under the pseudonym Ignatius Phayre, published many articles about visiting Hitler at home that were fabricated from Nazi propaganda sources.
Based on German propaganda sources, Fitz-Gerald, writing for the British Homes & Gardens magazine, described Hitler as "his own decorator, designer, and furnisher, as well as architect", and the chalet as "bright and airy" with "a light jade-green colour scheme"; caged Harz Roller canaries were kept in most of the rooms, which were furnished with antiques, mostly German furniture from the 18th century. Old engravings hung in the guest bedrooms, along with some of Hitler's small watercolour sketches. His personal valet Heinz Linge stated that Hitler and his longtime companion Eva Braun had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with interconnecting doors, and Hitler would end most evenings alone with her in his study drinking tea.
Though Hitler did not smoke, smoking was allowed on the terrace. His vegetarian diet was supplied by nearby kitchen gardens and, later, a greenhouse. A large complex of mountain homes for the Nazi leadership, and many buildings for their security and support staff, were constructed nearby. To acquire the land for these projects, many neighbours were compelled to sell their properties and leave. A mountaintop structure, the Kehlsteinhaus, nicknamed Eagle's Nest by André François-Poncet, a French diplomat, was built in 1937–38 above the Berghof, but Hitler rarely went there.